Why Am i here?

1
Why Am i here?
By Ashley Schilperoort Spring Quarter 2006
2
Existentialism

• Existentialism is a philosophical movement that
  views human existence as having a set of
  underlying themes and characteristics, such as
  anxiety, dread, freedom, awareness of death, and
  consciousness of existing.
• Definition taken from Wikipedia

3
Existentialism

• A chiefly 20th century philosophical movement
  embracing diverse doctrines but centering on
  analysis of individual existence in an
  unfathomable universe and the plight of the
  individual who must assume ultimate
  responsibility for his acts of free will without
  any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong
  or good or bad.
• Definition taken from Encyclopedia Britannica
  Online

4
Existence precedes Essence

• Sartre, in his lecture Existentialism and Human
  Emotions, formed the slogan Existence precedes
  Essence. He illustrated this slogan with four
  points
• We have no predetermined nature or essence that
  controls what we are, what we do, or what is
  valuable for us.
• We are radically free to act independently of
  determination by outside influences.
• We create our own human nature through these free
  choices.
• We also create our values through these choices.

5
Sartre Continued

• Based on Sartres view on the way people
  develop who they are, it can be said that
  videogames cannot be blamed for a persons
  actions. His second point reflects his belief
  that people are not controlled by outside
  influences, which would include literature as
  well as videogames. Todays culture likes to
  blame videogames for many problems with youth.
  According to the existentialist perspective, each
  person makes their own choices. People have a
  choice in everything and are therefore
  responsible for them.

6
Existentialism in Videogames

• Here are several videogames that model
  existentialism
• God of War
• Kratos has given up his existence to the service
  of the god Aries. In the service of Aries, Kratos
  kills his family. He then proceeds to avenge
  their death by destroying the god of war himself,
  Aries.
• http//mad.walla.co.il/archive/
  167346-5.jpg
• Punisher
• After an undercover mission, Frank Castle has a
  run in with the family of a young man who was
  accidentally killed in the mission. Frank
  Castles family is killed and he becomes
  intimately aware of loss and death in his life.
  His only drive becomes the destruction of the
  people who killed his family and to invoke dread
  into the minds of people who would do evil. Frank
  Castle is also an example of an anti-hero.

http//www.nlgaming.com/games/2343/03.jpg
7
Existentialism in Videogames Continued

• Final Fantasy Seven (FFVII)
• The story is based around the idea that there are
  no gods or deities and the only existence after
  death is a place called the Life Stream where
  everything comes and goes. Cloud becomes aware of
  death when his best friend Zack and Clouds love,
  Aries are killed by the villain, Sephiroth.

http//rucus.ru.ac.za/dmackie/albums/fantasy/Fina
l_Fantasy_VII.jpg
http//www.final-fantasy.it/Sephirothamidsttheflam
esbigger.jpg
8
Existentialism in Literature

• Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges
• The story of a man who dreams a boy into
  existence.
• The Bible
• Free will is a key concept in the Bible. God
  gave people free will so they can make choices.
• The Stranger by Albert Camus
• The story of a man who is severely emotionally
  detached and resembles a sociopath. Camus does
  not consider his novel to be an existentialist
  novel although the book has strong existential
  themes.

9
How it all fits together

• Humans are constantly seeking the answer to the
  question why am I here? Literature and
  videogames reflect this desire for answers. One
  of the main purposes of literature is to give
  purpose and direction for life. In class, we
  discussed how morality plays were used by the
  upper classes to instruct the lower, illiterate,
  classes on morals and how to live their lives.
• Videogames also include direction for life and
  morals. In some games, like World of Warcraft,
  you can choose whether or not you want to play as
  the good guys or as the bad guys. Other
  games allow you to choose between different
  responses to people within the game, like in
  Bards Tale. Existentialists believe we have
  complete control of our choices and that there is
  no set way to determine right from wrong.

10
The Influence of Existentialism

• I feel existentialism is a depressing outlook
  on life. If the only purpose is to exist, live a
  crummy life and then die then why live? Although
  I do not know the statistics, I would assume the
  suicide rate for existentialists is high. It
  seems many of us teenagers are existentialists
  without knowing it. We slink around and believe
  there is no point to life and our choices are
  only about ourselves.
• A popular belief is that it doesnt matter what
  you believe, just believe something. This belief
  is strange to me. If what you believe is simply
  personal, and everyone can be right, what is the
  point? Existentialism states that we form our
  own values and nature.

11
Bibliography

• Background photo
• www.unc.edu/.../photo/ img/night/moon_clouds.jpg
• Pictures
• http//mad.walla.co.il/archive/167346-5.jpghttp
  //www.nlgaming.com/games/2343/03.jpg
• http//rucus.ru.ac.za/dmackie/albums/fantasy/Fin
  al_Fantasy_VII.jpg
• http//www.final-fantasy.it/Sephirothamidstthefla
  mesbigger.jpg
• Michel Foucault. NNDB Tracking the Entire
  World.
• http//www.nndb.com/people/323/000095038/
  Retrieved May 15th, 2006.
• Existentialism. (the cry) a cry towards the
  absurd.
• http//www.thecry.com/existentialism/ Retrieved
  May 15th, 2006.
• Existentialism. Wikipedia.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism
  Retrieved May 15th, 2006.